Movie Review of "God is not Dead"

God is not Dead

Rating:

Star2

Star

Star

Star

Star

With the recent release of several pretty good faith-based movies (Noah, Son of God, Heaven is for Real), I was anxiously anticipated the Redbox release of “God is not Dead.” Sorry to say, but this movie was very disappointing.I am not quite sure what the message is but this the basis of the plot: College freshman Josh Wheaton (Shane Wheaton) begins his semester in a philosophy class taught by an all-knowing atheist, Professor Radisson (Kevin Sorbo). Radisson’s first assignment is for everyone in the class to sign piece of paper with the words “God is Dead.” Everyone in the class reticently submits to Radisson’s request with the exception of Josh. (Who is this guy, Jim Jones? ─ and does he have secret Kool-Aid also?). Josh takes exception to the notion that God is dead and then takes on an assignment where he must debate Radisson on the merits of the allegation. There is a lot of mumbo-jumbo about Nietzsche, Darwin, Hawking…as the debate develops, while the classroom looks like they are going to fall asleep.While the big debate is going on there are a number of subplots taking place: A Muslim raised student by the name of Ayisha (Hadeel Sittu) sees the light of Christ (much to her father’s dismay); a materialistic businessman who worships money begins to have a crises in faith; a Chinese student calls his father and tells him he is going to convert; a minister (David A.R. White) and his missionary friend (Benjamin Ochieng) have car trouble (what?); and a member of “Duck Dynasty” sends a message(double what?) The story is absurd on a number of levels. First of all, isn’t philosophy class the place where people are supposed to discuss the possibility of all things. So why then would doctor doom get up in front of a classroom and insist that there is no God (and it was not used as a ploy either). Secondly, unless he was teaching a class of potato-heads, why would Josh be the only student to challenge the professor’s assertion? Does everyone have their I-Pods plugged in? After a string of some pretty good faith-based flicks, I guess we were bound for a flop. At least a pretty good Christian rock band appeared at the end of the movie, and we also had the “Duck Dynasty” cameo. The movie is a dud, but if you must see it, it is now on DVD.

Share this article

Author of three books (Bustin’ Chops, Sales Tales, and The Non-Don). Contributor of over 200 articles on Yahoo’s Associated Content covering movie reviews, politics, current events, sports, and a wide variety of other topics. Thirty-year career as marketing manager in industrial chemical sales. Degree in Political Science from Elmhurst College, Illinois. Avid movie aficionado, golfer, tennis player, fisherman, traveler, and lover of the good life. you can contact Gary at gobustinchops@aol.com.